My family has a yearly tradition of reading a chapter a day of the book of Luke, leading up to Christmas. It has been such an enriching experience that helps center our holiday season on what is most important to us. If you’d like to join us in these readings, I’m providing questions to talk through with your kids to help spark conversations and meaningful engagement with what you read. I hope it’s helpful!
(Here is where you can find background information or to start this project at Chapter 1.)
Before you start each night, think about the environment you’re creating for this experience. Check your heart. Lower your expectations. Here is where you can find more ideas on how to set yourself up for success.
*A note on tough questions: If your kids are really engaging with what they’re reading, they may come up with tough questions you aren’t sure how to answer. THIS IS GOOD. It’s okay to tell kids that you aren’t sure about the answer and talk about how to find answers. Who are people you trust? What are resources you can access? The Bible is in some ways simple enough for children to understand and in other ways, complex enough that you need to devote your lifetime to studying it. Find those people who have done that hard work and learn from them, either in person or through their books. These questions shouldn’t be unanswerable, but it might take some work to find the answers.
Questions before you read Luke 6:
Who decided to follow Jesus in Chapter 5?
Who got healed in chapter 5?
What group of people is Jesus constantly having tension with? Why is that?
Is there anything in particular you learned from Chapter 5?
I ask my kids to listen for this information while we’re reading and I’ll ask about it after we’re done:
What are the names of the apostles?
Who are we commanded to love?
What might be stuck in your eye?
What do you need to build your foundation on?
(Asking them to look for the information before you start reading is super helpful in keeping little learners engaged. They tend to listen pretty hard when they’re listening for something specific. I might even write the questions out so they can hold them and look for the information while we read. I will assign these questions to my youngest kids and target the longer discussion questions to my older kids. If my younger kids need to go to bed while we’re deep in discussion, they still had a chance to participate.)
Questions after you’ve read Luke 6:
What was the original purpose of the Sabbath? How does Jesus help them better understand its purpose?
Does Jesus shy away from confrontations with the Pharisees? Can we confront people in love? Why is that challenging?
Where do you see examples of the upside-down Kingdom of God in this chapter? How is God’s value system different than the value system of the typical government or social structure?
How do you treat your enemies? Are there ways you could be expressing godly love and compassion for them? What keeps you from doing that?
In this passage we are told not to judge, but we are also told that actions and speech are an indication of what’s in someone’s heart- what’s the difference between judgment and discernment?
If the mouth speaks what the heart is full of, how does your own speech reflect your heart? Is this an area of struggle for you?
Jesus makes a distinction between hearing his words and putting them into practice. Do you know people who have heard a lot of God’s Word, but they aren’t showing the fruit? How are you working to put his words into practice?
Was there anything else that stuck out to you or surprised you?
(We might get through all of these questions, or just focus on one or two, depending on how deep the discussion is getting. And some nights, we might listen to the chapter in the car and not have a chance for a great discussion at all. Be flexible.)